When the day started on Thursday, JV Head Coach Alexis Dalton was planning to host a double header versus Tazewell High School at Cavalier Park. When teams play Softball twin bills both games are set for five innings so Dalton would have plenty of time to coach up her younger than young team and be home in time for a late dinner.

The first snag to the day occurred when THS notified Carroll County that they would be late arriving due to waiting on a school bus 🚌 to take their team down to The Hill.

  Crunching the numbers on when they would arrive, the decision was made to have the JV Lady Cavaliers join the Varsity team on the Bus 🚌 and head to Tazewell and play a single 7 inning game after the Varsity game was final.

6:56 pm (& 81 Degrees) was Time and Temperature 🌡for the first pitch of the Junior Varsity game. It wasn’t until the game was underway that the discussion began about how long it would last. Having to make decisions on the fly can get tricky but it was talked about being five innings and then turned into 90 minutes.

  Tazewell scored five runs 🏃‍♂️ in the bottom of the first inning and added three more in the bottom of the third to make the score 8-0. At this time, Addisyn Lineberry had the only base hit for Carroll County.

Arizona Thompson led off the top of the 4th inning with an infield single and Aspen Aldred followed with a single. That duo each picked up a second base hit in the same inning as CCHS sent 12 batters to the plate in the frame. In the middle of the prolonged rally, the game was delayed just over 10 minutes by a seizure suffered by a Bulldogs fielder.

  Thankfully she was all right and play finally resumed. When the dust settled, the score was knotted up at 8-8. Besides Thompson and Aldred going 2 for 2 in the rally, Kyra Moser lined a single and pinch hitter Ailey Cochran singled, drove in a run and scored one of the eight runs.

In the bottom of the 4th inning, Tazwell scratched out a go-ahead run but Ava Beamer stranded a runner at third base to keep it 9-8. Ava Beamer pitched in relief of starter Aleigha Beamer.

  Ten minutes was added back to the clock ⏰ for the delay and the Lady 👩 Cavaliers hurried up to the plate. With two outs, Moser legged out an infield single and raced over to third base on a throwing error. The tying run remained at third base and the game was called after the third out.

Carroll County JV…..000 80 – 8

Tazwell High JV……..503 1X – 9

After a brief team meeting the players gathered their gear ⚙ and headed to the Bus 🚌 where Mr. Quesenberry was waiting to take them back to The Hill.

  I chased the Bus as far as I-77 when I headed North and Dave went South. My best guess is that they made it back around 10:15 pm, if they didn’t stop for food or at the Rest Area.

Add in the time needed to get home 🏡 and you have an eventful 16 hour day. On a day that a whole bunch of life took place and our team somehow managed to be unaffected by it all.

  In all of the challenges faced by Dalton and her team, you can see 👀 the note 📝 from Alexis.

” If the game had went seven innings, its ours.”

Dalton did play under Coach Rick Nester during her time as a Lady Cavalier and its easy to see the Apple 🍎 didn’t fall far from the Tree.

  Back to Young, I believe that 8 of these young Ladies are still in Middle School. If you are one of their teachers tomorrow and they appear tired, there’s 😴 a good reason!